Getting To Know You
by rocket killer
Summary: Nick and Judy were an inseparable team of crime fighters. Even when the pair weren't on the job, they could usually be found together. As time went on, it became increasingly difficult for them to have a "normal" day together. With both their lives and relationships changing, their new adventure could be lurking just behind the corner.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I realized that words that had lines through them in my original draft of this story did not have lines through them when uploaded to the website. This made a certain portion of my story make very little sense or seem poorly written and because of this I have removed those portions entirely. While it removes some character depth (and humor) from my story I believe it best that these portions remain removed until I find a clear way to indicate the intended message. Without further ado, Please enjoy the story.**

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Nick Wilde wasn't one to openly convey his emotions but that didn't mean he lacked them. He felt emotions just like anyone else; he just chose to keep them guarded with a guise of unrelenting apathy and sarcasm. To an outside observer he might seem like a boring and uncaring individual, with a constant, neutral expression plastered across his muzzle. To anyone who really knew him however, which very few did, they would know that he was actually a very sensitive fox. They'd know it hurt him to see sheep steer clear of him on the sidewalk, to see mice try and hide themselves behind larger animals, and to see bunnies speed away at the sight of him. Well, not _every_ bunny left him in the dust. Judy Hopps was a very special case; he'd never met anyone quite like her. At first glance she seemed like his opposite, she was extremely energetic, slightly naïve, and wore her emotions plainly for all to see. However, after spending some time with her, even if it was against his will, he discovered there was much more to her than he first thought. She was clever, hardworking, determined, and most importantly _caring_. She cared about her job, the citizens she was protecting, what others thought of her, and she even cared about _him_. He wasn't used to that yet but that didn't mean he didn't like it. He had a feeling that she was starting to rub off on him; he was becoming more vigilant in his recently acquired employment, more open both with his emotions and in conversation and he even cared about something other than money now. He cared about his job, how he made others feel, and of course, his partner in crime prevention and best friend Judy.

Just because he cared didn't mean he was great at showing it yet, he was still used to showing an apathetic demeanor at all times. Luckily for him, Judy was there to help bring him out of his shell and would subtlety encourage him to open up in conversations. If it wasn't for her he'd probably still be a friendless bum selling popsicles on the street. Which brought him to his current issue… thanking her. While he was usually an eloquent speaker, he wasn't used to making sappy speeches and decided that writing her a letter would be best. This was a decision he was regretting as he angrily balled up another failed letter and tossed it at the rubbish bin in the corner of his part of the shared office… he missed it.

"Why is this so hard?!" He groaned while massaging the sides of his head.

The digital clock on his desk started franticly beeping. Was it time to go home already? Looking out the window he saw that the sky was darkening to a deep purple, sunset was nearly over. Since he wasn't being paid for overtime, he disabled the alarm and went to clock himself out. On his way out however he was intercepted by none other than Judy Hopps, who was returning to her office from a brief trip to the restroom.

"Oh, hey Nick, you clocking out for the night?" She asked tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah, I'll see ya' tomorrow, goodnight, Carrots."

"G'night Nick," She replied not batting an eye at the seemingly obnoxious nickname.

As she began to walk off Nick found his courage and cleared his throat, "Actually, um, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

She stopped and turned to face him, "Oh, okay. What is it?"

As quickly as his courage had come, it faltered as he began to break into a sweat that he prayed she wouldn't notice.

"Er, never mind I forgot, sorry about that. Goodnight, Carrots," He hastily walked out the door and into the cool night air.

What was that about? Judy couldn't help but wonder what was up with her partner but decided that it wasn't worth chasing him out the door over; she'd ask him about it tomorrow. Upon entering her side of the office that she and Nick shared she noticed that her partner neglected to shut down his computer. Deciding to shut it down for him she took a sticky note and wrote:

 _Nick, please remember to shut down your computer._

 _~ Judy, (Carrots)_

She wouldn't openly admit it to anyone but Nick but the nickname had grown on her, just a little bit. Turning to leave she noticed several wadded up balls of paper strewn about near his trash can causing her to stamp her foot in frustration. She swore it was like she was looking after a child sometimes. Placing the wads of paper in the trash she decided to open the last one, just out of curiosity. She wasn't expecting anything really interesting, maybe a crude drawing or shopping list but she figured she'd do it anyways. She was _not_ expecting it to be a letter addressed to her. Several things were scrawled out; he seemed to have trouble writing the letter. She read on anyways:

 _Dear Judy,_

 _I really don't know where to begin here; I just want you to know how thankful I am to have you around. You're a great friend and you've changed my life in a lot of ways. I know I can seem a bit condescending and sarcastic and I'm_ _sorry about that. Please, don't mistake that for apathy though, I really do care about you. You were the first animal_ _that actually believed that I could be something more than what society pegged me to be. You're also the only other animal I've told about_ _my childhood._ _Please, I beg of you, don't tell anyone about what happened on the cable car. I trusted you; I still trust you_ _because you're my_ _best friend. I can't tell you how much you're friendship means to me because I-_

With that, the letter ended. She was stunned at the amount of emotion in it, flattered into silence even. Is this what Nick wanted to tell her on his way out? Why the note, though? He could have just told her, right? She noticed the large amount of papers she had just thrown away and snatched one out of the trash can. Quickly unraveling it she gaped as she saw it was another unfinished letter addressed to her. Were all these papers actually letters to her? She had a guilty urge to read them all; Nick usually wasn't so open with his feelings. Part of her mind was disgusted with herself for wanting to rummage through her friend's trash and read things he had decided not to share with her. The other part of her mind however was ablaze with curiosity about how her friend thought of her. While the letters were in the garbage and not in an envelope they were still all addressed to _her_ so it would probably be okay if she read them, or at least that's what she told herself. She fished the letters out of the garbage and brought them home with her that night to read later.

Nick stood outside his recently acquired apartment waiting for his partner to carpool him to work. The temperature was pleasantly cool on his neatly combed fur, perfect weather for a cup o' Joe. He slurped some black coffee from his "#1" mug only to spit it out with a singed tongue. He desperately hoped he hadn't spilled any on his uniform; he'd spent ages ironing the darn thing and would hate to see it soiled at the last minute. A loud honk snapped him from his thoughts as he saw Judy hailing him in beat up pickup truck. It seemed to fit Judy, not in mean way though; it was just like its driver, determined to do its job regardless of what others thought of it.

"Wazz oop Carroots?" He felt stupid already.

"You speakin' in tongues, Nick?"

He clicked his mouth a few times and paused, "More like with a burnt tongue, I didn't let the coffee cool down before I drank it."

"Dumb fox," she chided playfully.

He supposed he deserved that one so he let it slide for now. He somehow heard a grumble over the clanging of the engine.

"You eat anything, Carrots?"

A fierce blush spread across her face as she realized the grumbling of her stomach was somehow louder than the roaring engine of the old pickup she was driving.

"N-no I was planning on stopping if you didn't mind it."

"Not a problem, I was planning to treat you to some carrot cake at lunch anyways, why not now?"

"Really now, what'd you do this time?" She teased.

"Do I still want to buy you a slice of cake? I don't know anymore."

Judy's stomach complained loudly at this, causing her to blush in embarrassment.

"A-all right, fine you win. I just wanted to know why; my birthday isn't for a while."

"Oh y'know is just… a friend thing? Friends buy each other gifts occasionally to show they… care, I guess?"

"Aw, how sweet! You care about me," She would have given him a quick hug if she wasn't driving.

"Do I care about my about you? Yes, yes I do."

"By the way, how'd you know carrot cake was my favorite?"

"Lucky guess."

After stopping to get his partner a healthy breakfast of carrot cake and chocolate milk, which he teased her about mercilessly, they entered the police station and went directly to the bullpen for their briefing.

"Officer Hopps and Officer Wilde you'll be chasing down some budding young artists today," Explained the chief while passing them a case file.

The manila folder contained several pictures of crude graffiti around town which had apparently been linked to two individuals. Both of those individuals had pictures in the document, one was a chubby, male pug and the other was an extremely lean, male raccoon.

With not a moment to spare Judy assumed what Nick affectionately called "Officer Hopps Mode" giving a vigilant salute and remarkably straight posture she responded with a respectful, "Understood sir!"

Nick leaned on his partner's head and glanced back to the chief giving a lazy nod, "What she said."

The chief resisted the urge to roll his eyes. How those two became the seemingly inseparable pair they were today was beyond him but he'd bet it would make a good movie. Maybe he'd ask them sometime, after all it wasn't every day a fox and rabbit would trust each other, let alone with their lives.

Once the pair got into their new squad car, which they both loved very much and had named Ted, Judy's phone vibrated. Since she was giving Nick the privilege to drive, she checked her phone. It was a message from her mother:

 _Hey sweetie just wanted to tell you how proud we are of you! I know you're living it up in the city right now but we still love and miss you so please don't forget to visit. You could even bring Nick with you! From what you told me he sounds like an upstanding young man so the family would love to meet him!_

She wanted Nick to meet her family but it was so large that she wasn't sure if it would overwhelm him. Then again if that letter she found last night was any indication of how he felt than she was sure he would go through with it. Still she didn't know if it was fair for her to put him through that, she had a _very_ big family. Her thoughts were broken as Nick parked the car.

"There they are. How do you wanna play this, Carrots?"

"I don't see why we can't just talk to them, there graffiti artist not murderers."

Stepping out of the car, the two flashed their badges at the felons.

"Good afternoon gentlemen my name is Officer Wilde and this is my partner Officer Hopps from the ZPD. We've been hearing some complaints about… Sir put the can down!"

"You'll never take me alive copper!" The pug screamed spraying hot pink paint in the poor fox's face and then booking it in the other direction with his partner.

Hopps was on hot on their trial while her partner floundered about before recovering and sprinting to catch up with them. The crooks did whatever they could to try and shake the pair; going down back alleyways and knocking things down behind them but it was to no avail as they were finally cornered.

"You've got nowhere left to run, get on th- ppaafffft!" Officer Hopps was interrupted by a can of deep blue paint blasting her in the face. Officer Wilde jumped in front of his partner to prevent further harm to her and received a splotch of sunflower yellow paint on his new uniform from a raccoon for his efforts. Recovering, Hopps tried to swat the paint can out of the raccoon's grasp and succeeded at a price; the back of her neck down to her rear end was now painted an annoying shade of safety orange thanks to the efforts of an aggressively artistic pug. Moving in on the pug Wilde swiped the can away only to be hit in the back with neon green paint. This cycle continued until the felons ran out of annoying colors and surrendered.

"It looks like we fought a rainbow," Nick lamented from his seat in the squad car.

"And lost," Judy added sadly.

"Well look on the bright side that blue really brings out your eyes," He joked.

"Yeah, I guess," she scoffed while secretly plotting to look into blue eye shadow.

Suddenly, Judy's phone lit up with activity as several text messages bombarded her phone. They were all from her mother and father.

"Wow, someone just got popular! You got a secret boyfriend I don't know about, Judes?" He shook his head disapprovingly but in a joking manner.

"Me with a boyfriend? That'll be the day," She scoffed.

"Well, maybe not now, you look like you were mugged by the nineteen sixties."

"We're in that together," She laughed at his wit.

Nick nodded. She was right; he looked ridiculous and was not looking forward to seeing all his coworkers make fun of him. He wasn't really sure how the situation could get more awkward for him.

"Sooo, I've been meaning to ask you Nick… Would you um, like to… meet my family this weekend?"

Nick had found out how it could get more awkward.

"Please, Nick. I'm sure they'll love you… I think you're pretty great."

The smell of social discomfort lingered in the air.

"H-how big did you say your family was?" The fox asked tentatively.

"There are just under three hundred of us, but you know… no pressure, the worst they'll do is ask you some personal questions."

"Oh?" Nick was sobbing uncontrollably on the inside at this point but kept a guise of calm.

"Yeah, I've told my parents a lot about you, so that might help. They'd love to have you over! What do you say do you wanna y'know meet 'em or… I'll understand if you say no I promise! I just really wanted to…" Her ears started to droop anticipating the answer.

"No, no it's okay really! I'd love to meet your family… this weekend was it?"

Judy parked the squad car in front of the station and wrapped her partner in a tight hug.

"You're the best, Nick! Love ya'!" With the hug his fate was sealed before she jumped out of the squad car.

"Dude," Was all the amused raccoon in the back could say.

"Good luck with that train wreck," Came another supportive voice from the back of the car.

"T-thanks," was all Nick managed to wheeze out as he reclined farther back into his seat gripping the arm rests like lifelines.


	2. Chapter 2

For once in his career, Nick was _not_ looking forward to the weekend. It was already Thursday morning and time seemed to be moving faster than ever before. He'd heard the saying about time going by faster when you were having fun but never believed it. To his surprise, fun was in no short supply in the police department and he seemed to be having an ample amount of it. While not everything in his job was sunshine and rainbows, he at least had a partner that would be there suffering through bad times with him. He wanted to thank her for that and had done so… in one of the letters he'd thrown away. A loud wheezy honk shook him from his thoughts, there was his ride. Hopping in the old pickup truck with as much enthusiasm as he could tiredly muster, he greeted his partner.

"Good morning, Carrots. Thanks for the ride."

"I'm just waiting for you to get your _own_ car," she joked.

"What? Tired of talking to me in the morning? Oh, how you wound me madam!" He proclaimed overdramatically while reclining in his seat pretending to be stricken.

Judy laughed but didn't say anything otherwise. She'd never admit it but she got lonely rather easily, a side effect of having such a massive family she supposed. Part of her hoped Nick would never get his own car, just so she could keep talking to him in the mornings. That was a bit silly though, wasn't it? She saw him at work all the time and seeing him half an hour later wouldn't kill her. Besides, they spent plenty of time together at work and even took their lunch breaks together. When they went out to lunch, she usually wanted to go somewhere nice but Nick had low standards, insisting that fast food _was_ nice. He did have a point though, finding a restaurant, getting seated, and eating usually did take more time than their half hour lunch break allowed. Still, she remembered overhearing a conversation about a Chinese restaurant that might work…

"Hey, Nick wanna grab some Chinese food for lunch later today?"

"I don't usually like Chinese food. Do you mind if we go somewhere else?"

"C'mon, just give it a chance. You might like it."

"Why should I spend money on food I _might_ like instead of going to a place to buy food I _know_ I'll like?"

"Because it would make me happy," She declared cheerily with a big grin.

"And I care about that… because?" He joked.

Judy pulled out a carrot shaped pen with a microphone and speaker on it. It could play back a message it recorded but only one at a time. It was a cheap thing, really, something you could find on sale in a dollar store. It could be used to record reminders of important events or just play with when someone was bored in an office.

" _Do I care about my about you? Yes, yes I do,"_ a slightly low quality recording played out of the pen.

Judy snickered as her partner's expression fell. It could also be used to blackmail and embarrass your friends.

"Clever bunny," he uttered glaring at her and her infamous pen; he hadn't known she'd been recording him yesterday.

Upon their arrival to the police station Judy hopped, literally as was natural to her, out of the truck while her partner lethargically slid out. Judy stuck out her fist to Nick.

"Ready to make the world a better place?"

"You know it," He said with a small but genuine smile, rather than his signature smirk as he lightly bumped his fist to hers.

They both made a big deal about the impact, pulling their fists apart quickly and making loud explosion sounds with their mouths. They continued to do this while laughing as the explosions got sillier and sillier to the point where Nick was just saying "twinkle" really loudly instead of "boom." Suddenly, Judy noticed something that really bugged her.

"Nick get down here a second," Judy ordered.

"What, like on my knees? You gonna knight me or something?"

"Just do it."

The fox rolled his eyes but complied, squatting down to meet her at eye level. She began to unclip his slanted badge and clip it back to the correct position. She gave him a look over and decided that his collar needed adjusting… and now that she looked at him she saw a tuft of uncombed fur sticking out from the rest on his head. She needed to fix that too.

The impromptu makeover was soon interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind them. They turned and saw Chief Bogo with an amused smirk... He'd seen everything fist bumps and all.

"When you two are done playing dress-up I've got a job for you," He gave a light chuckle with a shake of his head and went inside. If being a dork was a crime, those two would've been locked up for life. Still, he had to admit there was an odd charm to their relationship. It was certainly something he'd never seen something like before.

Nick got up slightly embarrassed, much like his partner.

"Thanks mom," He quipped.

"It's not my fault you can't seem to dress yourself properly," She countered hotly.

"Well, why didn't you just tell me? Why did you have to do it for me?"

"I was just being a good friend!"

"Well… thanks," He conceded.

Judy had a retort on the tip of her tongue; a finger raised in the air and her other hand on her hip. However, she paused after processing what he had said. She was expecting sass, not sincerity. What would have been a sharp comeback turned into a soft smile as they walked in the station together. After a brief greeting from Clawhauser, the bubbly cheetah at the front desk and first face to be seen upon walking into the building, they entered the bullpen.

"Alright boys," bellowed Chief Bogo, "let's get this done, shall we? First off we have Officer Hopps and Officer Wilde," He acquired a small but concealed smirk. "Since you two enjoy dress-up so much, it only seems fitting you get this," He said passing them today's manila folder.

Several pairs of eyes went to the pair in confusion, looking for an explanation for their chief's words. Even with Nick's sunset colored fur, it was abundantly clear he was blushing and his partner even more so. Judy wanted to burrow herself into a little hole until everyone forgot about her and Nick was thinking about jumping out the window, on the first floor of course, he wasn't insane. Trying to hide their embarrassment, the pair quickly ripped open the folder and tried to bury their muzzles in it. Yes, they had an extremely interesting job today. They needed to work undercover, posing as drug buyers for a narcotic that has been plaguing the streets of Zootopia as of late… catnip. The Chief's comments made sense now. Dealers wouldn't sell to someone in uniform, they needed a disguise. The dealer was supposed to arrive at seven thirty in the evening in a particularly shady area of the Rainforest District.

"So, what should we do Judes?"

"I don't know. This whole thing seems a little sloppy to me. I wish they'd given us some more time to prepare."

"I do too but it's not really their fault. According to this file, the only thing we have to go off of is a recent anonymous tip saying this guy would be there today."

"Doesn't that seem a little shady to you? What if it was a setup and they're waiting to ambush some unsuspecting cops?"

"Well what can we do? If the tip's fake and it turns out to be a trap than isn't it our job to take people like that off the streets anyways? Besides, if it isn't a trap and we don't investigate than a catnip dealer gets away from us."

"You're right, Nick but it's just so infuriating! I'd at least feel safer having some backup in case it _was_ a setup."

"If I asked for backup and we never ended up needing it Chief Bozo-"

"Bogo," Judy interrupted.

"Whatever, he wouldn't be happy with us."

"Not to mention that neither of us are felines, so if either of us went to buy catnip…"

"It'd look suspicious," Judy finished.

"Why didn't they send Clawhauser for this?"

The bunny gave her partner a look. Sure, Clawhauser was a nice guy but he wasn't exactly… field agent material. Then again, neither was she. She supposed it wasn't fair to judge him without giving him a chance to prove himself. She was a firm believer that in Zootopia, anyone could be anything and if Clawhauser was given the chance, he might be a better cop than _she_ was.

"Clawhauser wasn't given the job; we were, so let's figure it out."

The clock on the wall was constant. _Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock,_ it almost seemed to be challenging them. It had been several hours and neither of them had a _clue_ how they were going to handle the case. If they couldn't figure out how to get it done soon, they'd either miss the drug dealer or have to go to Chief Bogo and explain to him why they couldn't do it; neither of those were an option. Nick was surprised his mind hadn't exploded from overload and at this point he was hoping that his partner would come up with a brilliant way to save the day. Her face was scrunched up and her foot was tapping wildly on the floor, she was thinking really hard… and she looked adorable. Nick would never tell her that though; he knew she didn't like being called cute.

"Are you sure you don't have any ideas? You used to be… street savvy," Judy tested.

"I sold frozen treats to hamsters, Judes. I never did anything that could have gotten anyone hurt or sold anything addictive. I didn't exactly rub elbows with _real_ criminals; they'd be too busy laughing at me."

The rabbit's face and ears reddened a little. Nick was never exactly a hardcore criminal and she felt bad for even _suggesting_ that he would know anyone like them. She stopped to consider what he had said however. Nick had been down on his luck and struggling to survive in a society that judged him before they even got to know him. He had every right to be angry about it and she was sure he was but he didn't _hurt_ anyone. Sure his whole Pawpsicle sham was a little low but nobody got hurt. Maybe the hamsters missed the little cooler outside their workplace? What if they looked forward to seeing Nick and his stand after work every day? He might have been making some hard working hamsters very happy. Sure he was indirectly taking money from the elephant's business in an extremely convoluted way but in her opinion they deserved it. However, Judy was well aware that her opinion was not law. The more she thought about it the more she realized that despite being hurt by others, Nick never returned the favor and might have even been spreading a little bit of joy to those he sold his treats to.

"I'm sorry, Nick."

"What are you apologizing for?"

"Everything I did to you back when we first met. Your Pawpsicles weren't hurting anybody and the might have made some hamsters very happy. It wasn't your fault that others treated you the way they did, you were just trying to get by. I shouldn't have blackmailed you into working with me and I should've treated you nicer. As a matter of fact I should've just left you alone like you wanted. I was just a rookie cop trying too hard to prove herself. I'm sorry, do you think you can forgive me," She looked up at him with her adorable purple, bunny eyes.

Nick was caught off guard by this to say the least. Where had all this come from? Had he done something to make her feel like she _had_ to apologize? Was it the fact they hadn't left the same stuffy room for several hours or was she just being a crazy overemotional bunny? Was it both? He guessed that it was probably both.

"C-Carrots, there's really nothing to apologize for I'm… glad things turned out the way they did. If you hadn't dragged my sorry tail on that lunatic adventure than I'd probably still be an unhappy treat vender who felt like he needed to be what society told him he was. I'm not usually good with mushy stuff, that's more of a bunny thing I'm guessing but I'm actually glad I met you. You taught me that I didn't have to be what others told me to be, you believed in me when nobody else did, and you gave me a shoulder, or head actually, to lean on and you even became my first friend in a _really_ long time. I didn't exactly treat you very well when I first met you either; I said some pretty nasty things I wish I could take back. I'll forgive you but only if you can forgive me first."

Nick soon found himself in a surprising but not completely unwelcomed hug. He had to wonder what was up with all the hugs recently though. Were all bunnies so touchy-feely or was it just something unique to his partner? He supposed he find out in a few days when he went to meet her family.

"Awwww, that's so sweet!" Clawhauser cooed from the doorway with his cellphone out.

"Were you recording us?" The fox asked slightly offended.

The cheetah nodded, "I'm sorry but you're friendship is _way_ too adorable not to share with the internet. First it was the dress-up thing Chief Bogo was going on about and now it's this! Wait; was it makeup or dress-up he was going on about?"

A sudden spark of realization went off in Judy's eyes but her partner missed it being too occupied with Clawhauser.

"Can I at least post the hug?"

Nick weighed his options, "Yes, you may post the hug but _nothing_ from our conversation. Okay?"

The Cheetah nodded giddily and took off to his front desk.

"Nick, that's it! Makeup!"

The fox took a careful step back from his partner. The look in her eyes told him he probably didn't want to participate in whatever fantasies about him were flying about in her head.

"I'm sorry, am I missing something here?"

"Nick, out of the two of us you look most like a cat and while changing your outfit alone wouldn't work we could make you look like a cat with…"

"Makeup," he finished.

"Exactly!" The bunny nodded her head rapidly, happy that her partner understood.

"No."

"It's the only way; I could get my makeup kit and make you look just like a cat!"

"I said no, Carrots. I'm not your doll."

"Do you have any better ideas or would you like to be the one to tell the chief we couldn't do the job?"

"Fine," he relented, "You better _hop to it_ than."

"I'm getting my purse right _meow._ "

The ride to the Rainforest District was an awkward one to say the least. Nick's constant complaining about having to wear makeup was only rebutted by his partner constantly nagging him not to smear it. She didn't care if he "felt fake" what a ridiculous thing to say! It had taken a _lot_ more makeup than Judy thought it would to make his cover work and neither of them were happy about it, Judy didn't want to waste it all on him and he didn't want to wear it.

"All right, here we are. Be careful Nick, don't mess this up."

"I couldn't possibly, I'm street savvy remember?" With that he closed the car door and got and walked off to the drop off point.

A stalky figure approached, it was hard to discern much detail about the figure other than that. The fog in the Rainforest District made it perfect for this sort of thing. As it came closer, body structure and mane made it clear that this individual was a male lion. Despite being shorter than average height, he still looked like he was a heavy hitter. Nick began to play up his act, he began to twitch slightly and bug out his eyes.

"So, ya' want some of the good stuff, eh?" Asked the lion as he stood next to Nick in the alleyway.

"Y-yes! P-please I'll do anything, I can't relax! I c-can't even t-think straight without it!"

The lion pulled out a small bag of catnip and shoved it in Nick's muzzle, "This stuff right?"

"Yes t-that's it!" Nick pretended to swoon over it, rolling his eyes back for a moment and closing his eyelids.

"Good stuff ain't it?" He dangled the bag closer to Nicks muzzle letting it glide across his nose.

Nick reached for the bag in a mock attempt to grab it. He moved slightly slower and missed on purpose to make it seem like smelling it had affected him. He was roughly shoved to the ground by the dealer.

"You want this catnip? You gotta pay, bud," He said gruffly.

"Y-yes of course, s-sir," He quivered.

"You seem to need it _real_ bad too. How much is it worth to you?"

"I d-don't make a lot of money b-but I-I'll do anything, s-sir!" Nick was weakly groveling on his knees.

"Anything, huh?"

Just then, the artificial rain system started. Water and mist sprayed everywhere clinging to trees, leaves, and pretty much everything it could, including Nick's makeup. It began washing off quickly dollops of mascara and foundation glopped against the now wet ground.

"You, you ain't no cat, kid!" The lion roared as he realized he had been fooled.

Nick ducked just in time to avoid being severely injured but one of the felon's claws nicked his ear. Judy jumped out of hiding and started moving as fast as her legs could carry her with her stun gun out. Of course the makeup would wash off in the _Rain_ forest District! How could she have not seen it coming?! She took aim as the lion's strikes were getting closer and closer to hitting her partner. She aligned her crosshairs and…

The lion landed a heavy hit.

Nick fell to the ground cold.

Judy shot her stun gun.

The lion fell beside Nick.

After rushing to cuff the criminal before he could recover, she rushed to her fallen partner. As far as she could tell, he wasn't bleeding but she didn't trust herself with that observation. It was raining, Nick's fur was red and it was mixed with _tons_ of makeup; she could have easily missed it. Sprinting back to the squad car Judy radioed in.

"This is Officer Judy Hopps, w-we've got an Officer down, I repeat Officer down! We're at Balmon Road in the southern Rainforest District and are in need of medical assistance!"

Sirens always made Judy feel safe. Ever since she was a child she wanted to be able to use one on her own squad car. The sirens now however were different. They made her feel sick to her stomach, powerless even. The ambulance was blaring and Nick was in a stretcher inside, she hopped impatiently about waiting for the news. After what seemed like an eternity one of the medical staff, an otter, walked up to her.

"Ma'am, your friend is a very lucky fox. It seems that the worst he suffered was a blunt blow to the head. The assailant merely hit him with the back of his paw instead of his claws, if he had been struck from the front we wouldn't be having such a happy ending to all this. You look after that one, okay?" He said with a small smile at the end.

"I will. I'm never letting that knucklehead out of my sight again!" She promised.

"Very good," He chuckled, adjusting his glasses and walking off to converse with his coworker.

As she walked up to the ambulance the doors opened to reveal her partner swaddled in a blanket with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Hey Carrots…"

"Don't you 'hey Carrots' me! Do you have _any_ idea how worried you had me?! How _long_ I've been waiting?! Nicolas Wilde if you weren't already hurt I'd throttle you right now! I… I…" She was engulfed in a blanketed hug.

"I missed you too, Carrots."

Judy took a deep breath and calmed herself. She wanted to be mad at Nick and scowl but with her cheeks puffed out and arms crossed while wrapped in a blanket she looked more like a pouting child.

"So what happened to the guy who clocked me over the head?"

"He's being charged with possession of catnip and assaulting an officer."

"What about selling catnip?"

"Since he didn't actually _sell_ you the catnip we don't have evidence of that…" She felt robbed, defeated even.

"Well, that's too bad…" He said slyly pulling out a familiar pen and pressing the play button.

" _You want this catnip? You gotta pay, bud,"_ echoed the pen.

"No way…"

"Yes way! We got 'em Judes!"

While sitting in the back of that ambulance that evening, Judy and Nick reflected. While they may have come from different backgrounds, were different species, or even on different levels of the food chain, it didn't matter. Together they could live their lives as protectors of Zootopia and the world as a whole. They knew that life wasn't some fairy tale where all of your dreams magically came true but that didn't mean they were impossible to achieve and it certainly wouldn't stop them from trying. They knew real life could be scary, confusing, and even dangerous at times but if they worked together, they knew they could make the world a better place.

"So…" Nick started.

"So…" Judy continued awkwardly.

"I guess we really didn't have time for lunch today," Nick's stomach growled.

"Yeah, busy, busy, busy all day," Judy laughed sheepishly.

A silent blanket engulfed the two of them.

"y'know what? I'm hungry. What do you say we grab some dinner after this? I was thinking… some Chinese food sounds pretty good," Nick spoke up.

"Yeah, that sounds like a da- good idea."

* * *

 **Author's Note: I am astounded by the amount of support this story is getting! I'd like to thank you all for motivating me to push out a second chapter so quickly. This wouldn't be possible without you. If you have any questions or comments I'm _always_ happy to receive reviews.**


	3. Chapter 3

Nick glugged down his bitter and blackened coffee loudly as he stepped into his partner's pickup truck. It was yet another pleasantly sunny day in Zootopia and here he was about to spend it at work. Well, after today he'd have the weekend to look forward to… sort of. He had no clue how he was supposed to act in front of his partner's family; he didn't even know what to _wear_. Was it a formal introduction? Should he rent a suit? Would it be wrong of him to wear his uniform?

"Earth to Nick, come in Nick," Judy wrenched him from his thoughts as he jerked his head to face her.

"This is Nick to mission control, what is it? Over," He put his paw to his ear as if talking into an earpiece.

"We need you to get rid of that mustache, it's against regulations," She joked.

Looking down, Nick noticed he had acquired a coffee mustache from his last sip and decided just to lick it off with his tongue.

"Real classy, Nick."

"The world could write poems on my etiquette, I truly am a master of charm," He said between sips of his coffee.

"Etiquette, huh? I'll admit I didn't know you could use a word that big," She teased.

"There are many things you don't know about me."

"Yeah, you're a real fox of mystery, I'm sure."

A brief but comfortable silence filled the truck for a moment. Judy snickered at the memory of last night's dinner and leaving her shocked partner with the bill. The ride in to work seemed to be a good way for them to vent out their fill of sarcasm so they could act professionally at work.

"How's your head treating you? You don't seem to be in any pain," Judy observed.

"My head is fine, thanks. The only pain I've been in recently was economic when you made me pay for dinner last night."

Who was she kidding? Even if the ride to work was a year long Nick would still have sarcasm to spare when they arrived. To be honest though, it didn't bother her, it was just who Nick was. She just hoped he could take it down a notch when they visited her family tomorrow. Sure, _she_ didn't mind but her family might not appreciate a snarky fox waltzing in their home and undermining their hospitality.

"Hey, um, Nick? Please remember that not everyone in my family is like me so when we see them tomorrow could you please just remember to be respectful?"

"Of course," he replied.

That was it? No sarcasm or witty remark? Maybe he could pull this off after all. It at least showed that he was taking it seriously.

"Calling me Carrots in front of my family may not be a good idea."

"I'm not stupid, Judes. I'll be on my best behavior, promise."

After parking at the station, Judy rolled her eyes, "I guess there's a first time for everything than."

Getting out of the truck, Judy stuck out her fist, "Ready to make the world a better place?"

"Each and every day," Nick lightly returned the gesture with a smile.

They both decided to tone down the gesture in light of what happened yesterday. With their daily ritual done, they set a course for the front door for today's job. With a short wave to Clawhauser the pair entered the bullpen.

After dealing with some roughhousing officers in the back the chief began issuing jobs and cases to various officers.

"Officers Hopps and Wilde, today you'll have meter duty."

Both Nick and Judy were upset by this but Judy remained silent. She knew she had earned the chief's respect and she wasn't being assigned this out of spite. Sadly, meter duty was just something that needed to be done and they were the ones that needed to do it today.

"B-but chief!" Nick objected, he thought they were past discrimination now.

"No 'buts' Officer Wilde get to it!"

"What's with this? Can't you trust us with something more important?!" Nick was up and out of his seat at this point.

"It's not a matter of trust Wilde. You were in an ambulance yesterday and I'm not sending you off to hurt yourself again."

All of the remaining officers were watching this argument, becoming slightly amused.

"But-"

"That's enough Nick!" Judy stood up and roughly shoved her finger into his chest.

"Don't you-" He started

"No, Nick listen to me and listen good! Swallow your pride for a moment and think about this! You got knocked out by a lion yesterday, a _lion_ , Nick! You're lucky to be alive, let alone be at work today! Please, for my sake stop trying to be such a big hotshot all the time. I couldn't live with myself if something like that happened to you again. I'm sure we can handle _one_ day of meter duty, so please stop arguing with him about it. How would you feel if it happened to me?"

That wasn't fair and she knew it, the fox grimaced. He'd feel _miserable_ if anything like that ever happened to her. Just the _thought_ of trying to care for his only friend's limp and unconscious little body made him feel a little nauseous. All things considered, she probably handled better than he would have.

"Okay… _I see how it is_. Sorry, Judy," He turned to Chief Bogo, "Chief."

As the fox took his seat again the room became deathly silent. Everyone knew that he and the chief didn't always see eye to eye. The two of them could argue for hours if they were ever given the opportunity to do so. That was probably why it was such a shock when the argument had been cut short so suddenly. Chief Bogo was a large, intimidating, and serious ox; even the largest and fiercest of animals had some sort of respect for him. However, none of that fazed Nick as he was more than happy to pick verbal fights with him. He had stood unafraid of the chief despite an overwhelming difference in size and strength but had submitted to the will of his partner, a _bunny_. She had even gotten him to _publicly apologize_. None of the other officers claimed to know the fox well; he wasn't very open after all. They did know however, that Nick was _not_ the sort of fox that just tossed around the word "sorry" lightly… or ever as far as they knew. So what made Judy so special? As far as anyone could tell she didn't have any mind controlling superpowers and she wasn't very intimidating, even when she wanted to be. So how did she have such an influence over Nick when he didn't even bat an eye to the most respected animal in the building? Well, anyone who had spent more than twenty minutes around the two of them could figure out they cared for each other, right? It wasn't exactly a secret, they did their silly little fist-bump in the parking lot every morning, she drove him into to work, and the two even shared the occasional hug. The answer should have been obvious; Judy could make Nick act that way because he _cared_ about her. It was just… weird though. It was bizarre to see a _fox_ and a _bunny_ care so much about each other; it certainly caught quite a few animals off guard when they discovered the two were partners. Maybe that's why it was just a little hard to accept? Just because society stated that a fox and a bunny couldn't get along didn't make it true. Of course, none of the other officers thought it was _wrong_ , though, quite the contrary. Those two proved were a shining example of what Zootopia stood for, " _a place where anybody could be anything._ " As soon as the pair left the room a single officer spoke to his partner.

"So, we're _sure_ those two aren't dating?"

Chief Bogo pounded his fist on the table to get attention back on himself. He would _not_ suffer through listening to that argument again…

Meanwhile, Nick and Judy had arrived to what Nick sarcastically named "Ticket Central" due to the sheer amount of parking meters in the area. It was just across the street from the elephant ice cream shop where they had first met. Back then, he would have laughed if someone told him he'd end up in the same kind of orange vest covered in reflective tape that she was in. He wouldn't have believed it, called them crazy even but here he was working side by side with the very same bunny he had met such a seemingly short time ago with matching uniforms to boot.

"I still can't believe this," Nick grumbled under his breath.

"Listen, Nick I know you won't like hearing this but the chief is right. You got hurt yesterday so chasing down criminals probably isn't the best option for you right now."

"You're right, Carrots…. I didn't like hearing that."

"Well, look on the bright side."

"What bright side?"

"You make a cute meter maid," Judy jested, lightly elbowing his side.

Nick wasn't sure whether to blush or laugh at that so he decided to try and play it off with a very forced laugh. His face was a little redder than usual but he felt pretty confident his partner hadn't noticed anything suspicious.

"Oh, so it's okay when _you_ say it but _I can't_?"

"Ye,." She answered curtly.

"You're impossible."

 _Ding_!

Both of their ears perked up as they turned to see a meter had expired; it was time to get to work. Judy, being the ever so vigilant officer that she was had sprinted ahead to get to the now illegally parked vehicle and by the time her partner had caught up with her she had already printed and placed the ticket.

"Try and keep up, Officer Wilde. Wouldn't want you falling behind now, would we?"

"Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe," she countered coyly avoiding eye contact with a small smile.

 _Ding!_

Nick printed and placed a ticket on a nearby truck without even needing to take a step.

"Well, it's hardly a fair one," He scoffed, "Don't think I haven't heard the stories."

"What stories?"

"Oh, you know the ones; the stories about some hotshot rookie who gave out two hundred tickets on their first day."

"Two hundred and one, actually," She murmured to herself; sadly Nick had heard her.

"Really? Wow, and two hundred was such a nice number, too. Do you have any idea who the moron that pegged a one on the end of it was?"

"It was…" She muttered the last word quietly, suddenly becoming timid.

"I beg your pardon?"

"It was… me?" She answered weakly.

"You?! You gave yourself a ticket!" He was chocking out his words between small fits of laughter.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Why didn't you just move your car? Nobody would've known."

"I said I don't want to talk about it, Nick. It was a sad day for me."

"Oh, you poor thing. It certainly _sounds_ like a sad day."

"Yeah, and it really didn't help when a certain fox decided to trick me and then proceed to belittle and stomp all over my dreams later that day," She glared at him.

Ouch. Nick knew he'd apologized for that already but it didn't make it hurt any less when she brought it up. He'd acted like a jerk back then; he could admit that, he had admitted that. Why was it so difficult to just move on from it then? He'd admitted what he'd done was wrong to both his partner and himself and had even apologized for it. Wasn't that what he was supposed to do? Why did he still feel… _bad_ about it? When someone got a cut they put a bandage on it and it healed. Getting the cut probably wasn't a nice experience but it healed and nobody cared about it anymore. Wasn't that how an apology was supposed to work? If not, than Nick didn't really see the point in apologizing to anyone ever again. What good were they if they didn't fix things? Besides, he'd been apologizing too much recently and he _hated_ apologizing. An apology was basically admitting you were wrong but even more humiliating. Yet, some small part of his mind was glad he had done it… he hated that too. It didn't make him feel _good_ that he had apologized but it made him feel the tiniest bit _less guilty_ about what he had done. Was that what an apology was supposed to do? He could think about it for hours and probably never figure it out on his own.

"I'm sorry, Nick. I shouldn't have said that… I just _really_ didn't want to talk about it. It wasn't the best day of my life."

"Its fine," He had no further comment.

She had apologized to him and it made him feel a little better. Why did it make him feel better? Yes, he was still upset that she had brought it up and he still had a guilty feeling in his gut but it had lessened. He had a feeling that she felt better, too. She had given the apology so easily, though. Weren't apologies supposed to be significant? He wasn't expecting a big speech with it but she sounded rather exasperated when she said it. When somebody said they were sorry after doing something wrong, did they say it because they wanted to feel less guilty or because it was polite and expected of them? He lacked experience with apologies; he didn't usually give or receive them. A small voice of wisdom in his mind told him that with friendship came the understanding of friendly interaction. Nick internally told that voice to shut up. He was confused enough _without_ the cryptic yet cliché messages of fortune cookies buzzing around in his head.

 _Ding!_

A large red pickup truck's timer had expired and the driver was nowhere to be found. The vehicle must've belonged to a very large animal, not even Nick could reach the windshield.

"I've got this one," His partner smirked.

With an amazing display of acrobatics she jumped up onto the parking meter, then to the nearby wall where she pushed off to use a pliable signpost as an improvised bunny-pult. She flew through the air and spectacularly… missed and hit the ground facedown.

After a quick internal debate on whether to ask if his friend was okay or make a sarcastic comment, Nick chose to do the former in reality and the latter in his head.

"Are… you okay there, Carrots?" He asked tentatively taking her paw to help her up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That doesn't usually happen," She gratefully took his extended paw and dusted herself off when she was up.

"Well, try everything I guess."

Judy smiled at the reference of her favorite song. Even with a scuffed uniform and skinned elbows, her partner had managed to cheer her up. He was surprisingly good at that, even if he wasn't quite as touchy-feely as she was. Even if he could be lazy and annoying at times, he at least meant well for her; besides, he always came through for her whenever she needed him most.

"Maybe we could put the ticket somewhere lower on the car?" He suggested.

"Yeah and we can leave a note of apology for our shortness, too. C'mon Nick take this seriously. Leaving a ticket anywhere else would be unprofessional."

"I'm sure they'd understand."

"I'm not willing to bet on that. Let's just get the ticket on the windshield and be done with it."

"Fine, let's do it the hard way."

Nick crouched down to his partner's level and picked her up, causing her to yelp, before placing her atop his shoulders. Several bystanders turned to look at the strange sight. Nick kept a straight face while his partner desperately tried to become invisible to all of the sudden unwanted attention they were attracting.

"Write the ticket, Carrots. I'm not a ride."

Judy did exactly that, punching in some buttons on her printer and putting the slip of paper on the now reachable windshield. As soon as she finished placing the ticket, Nick set his partner on the ground. It was at this point that they both noticed that some of their audience had their cellphones out. Had they been taking pictures?

"If pictures like that get out my image will be ruined…"

"You didn't seem to have any problem picking me up just a minute ago, why do you care now?" She asked huffily.

"I never thought I'd see these people again in my life. Besides, who'd believe them if they told anyone? Words are like that, they'd tell someone what they saw and nobody would believe them. Pictures however are much harder to disprove and I didn't think they'd be taking any," He grimaced at the thought of silly pictures of him and his partner floating about the internet.

"Well, it was your idea so I hope you're happy."

"I'm not," He scowled.

"Whatever, lunch break is in five minutes, you'll be happy then. I saw this new Mexican restaurant, wanna try it out with me?"

"Oh, no, not after last night's little stunt. I've brought my own lunch today; those fried crickets won't eat themselves."

"Ew, really Nick? C'mon try this place out with me it could be good."

There was a brief pause as the fox considered his possibilities. A small grin became visible upon his muzzle and a playful mirth danced behind his eyes.

"Okay Carrots, you win. Thanks for treating me."

"See? I told you you'd… wait what?"

"You're paying this time, right? I mean, it was _you're_ idea to go out for lunch. Like I said, I have mine back at the ZPD."

"Yeah but _I_ didn't pack a lunch and by the time you go back to get yours and come back to meet me our break will be over!"

"Alright, fine I'll eat out with you and I'll even pay if you agree to a little bet."

Judy narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her partner. He had a cocky smirk and even with his half-lidded eyes she could see he was trying to hide something from her.

"A bet, huh? What kind of bet?"

"It's real simple, Carrots," He started his little spiel, "You swing by my place for a game of cards, after work. If you win I'll pay for this meal but if _I_ win than you gotta pay me back for this meal and last night's dinner."

"That's hardly fair, I'd be paying more. What if I refuse this little bet of yours?"

"Then you can pay for your little table for one all by yourself and I'll head back to the ZPD for my crickets. I think my company is worth a little extra cash, wouldn't you say? Besides, you'd only be paying if you lost, if you win it's free food. Everybody loves free food," Nick grinned, _he_ loved free food and he was going to get it if she accepted this bet.

Silence engulfed the two of them as Judy was became occupied with her thoughts for a moment.

"Fine, I accept, but you'll be sorry."

Nick smiled and shook his head; he'd had his fill of apologies for a while and wouldn't be giving them so easily anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

It wasn't over, everybody underestimated her. The police department, the citizens, the world as a whole, even. Worst of all _he_ had underestimated her even after seeing firsthand what she was capable of. He was paying for it now though, soon everybody he cared about would be in danger, families would split at their core, society would fall into mass hysteria and it was all his fault. He kept walking, he really didn't want to but he had no choice in the matter. He desperately scrawled something on a slip of torn paper with an orange pen as he kept walking. He dreaded every step, getting closer to his destination. He was there, she was there too. The ZPD parking lot, how ironic that it would be the place where it all started.

"Hey, Nick!" Greeted an energetic and bubbly voice.

"Ready to make the world a better place?" The bunny stuck out her fist awaiting him to complete their morning ritual.

"Not, today, Carrots. Promise me you'll do it without me…" His voice hitched, he was supposed to be acting natural.

"W-what's wrong, Nick? Are you okay?"

He gave her the scrap of paper, it was the last good thing he'd ever be able to do:

" _I'm sorry. RUN."_

"What the heck is going on with you?!" She took careful steps back.

That was good, he thought. He started to tear up. A sharp pain hit his neck. He put his paw to his neck reflexively and saw _blue_ when he pulled it back.

Nick shot up from his uneasy slumber with a sharp intake of cold breath. It was just a nightmare, he was safe. He rubbed his temples as he sat up out of his bed; both his bed and fur were drenched in cold sweat. He felt exhausted but his heartbeat was hammering like he was a hummingbird on a sugar rush. He was safe and so was Judy, he repeated this mantra in his head over and over. He glanced at his phone on the dresser before pushing the button on it to get the time; it was one in the morning. He considered calling her but eventually decided against it. What would he say? He was scared by a nightmare he had and just wanted to be sure she was okay? No, he was sure she was okay. She was probably asleep in her little bunny bed and wouldn't appreciate him calling at this time anyways. Not only were they meeting her family later today but she might think it was _cute_ that he was concerned for her. He couldn't have that, no matter how real and scary the dream was. With a forced yawn, he did something he rarely did anymore. He grabbed an extra fluffy pillow and hugged it to his chest before wrapping his whole body around it. It was a little embarrassing that he still did it sometimes; it was like how some animals sucked their thumbs when they were little and never really grew out of it. He didn't care right now, though. Nobody was around to judge him for it and it made him feel better, safer even. He didn't sleep much more that night and he regretting going to bed rather late beforehand but whatever sleep he could salvage would have to do, he had a big day ahead of him.

The alarm in Judy's apartment went off at six thirty in the morning, just as it was set to do the night prior. Today was the big day, the day she was going to introduce her family to Nick. She felt… _something_ in her gut, a mix between excitement and anxiety. Hopefully the nice warm shower she'd be taking would ease that. First order of business though, was getting some breakfast. After hopping over to her cupboard, literally of course, she pulled out her favorite cereal, Lucky Marshmallows. She knew that Nick would _never_ let her hear the end of it if he discovered that her favorite cereal was full of sugar and for children. Sadly, upon pouring out the box only a small and pitiful marshmallow carrot fell into the otherwise empty bowl. After a disappointed sigh, she sinfully indulged in the sugary sweet and pulled out her healthier cereal, Raison Bland. She had gotten it a long time ago when she was on a health kick that she never finished. She hated to admit it but she had packed on a few pounds over the past few months and hoped Nick hadn't noticed. Wait… what? Where had that come from?! Since when did she care about _that_?! Well, she cared about her body and maintaining a healthy lifestyle but that was because she enjoyed working out and her job required it. She had never worked out to _impress_ anybody, least of all Nick! No, it was fine, she was still _far_ from fat or even pudgy but she did need to get herself back into the swing of things and stop eating out so much. Speaking of eating out, she was still totally convinced that Nick had cheated at their game last night. A scowl became present on her face as she thought of that smug expression of his face as he put his paw out for the cash she owed him. Who cheats at Go-Fish anyways?! After bitterly choking down the apparently stale Raison Bland, she went to brush her teeth and of course, she was out of toothpaste. She _really_ needed to go shopping. Reluctantly, she swished the stingingly acidic and extremely minty mouthwash around her mouth for a full thirty seconds. She _hated_ that stuff but her dentist insisted that it was the best mouthwash available. She looked at the sickly blue liquid inside the clear, plastic bottle with thought and grimaced. She knew what she had done already wasn't going to be enough to rid her of her morning breath and since brushing with toothpaste wasn't an option… She poured another capful of the liquid as the smell burnt her nostrils causing her to wince. After another full thirty seconds of swishing around even more of the disgustingly minty and slightly painful liquid she gasped for air. This was a decision she instantly regretted as the air stung the roof of her icily minty mouth. After quickly clamping her mouth shut and nearly biting her tongue, she walked longingly to the shower. Yes, a nice warm shower was _exactly_ what she needed. The warm water would melt the iciness away along with her stress. She turned the facet to hot and shrieked as bullets of freezing water drenched her whole body. It seemed that the hot water had gone out in her apartment… again.

Nick was _not_ a happy fox at the moment. He had given up on sleep after two hours of tossing and turning in his bed, despite what little comfort his childhood habit had brought him. Since three in the morning he had been getting ready for Judy's arrival, as he really had nothing else to do. The first thing he did was move his packed bags by the door. Then, he had taken a shower and brushed his teeth and fur, just like his mother had taught him. He even splashed a little cologne on after brushing his fur. He'd spent for what seemed like _hours_ brushing it, his fur looked somewhat straight on top but his undercoat was actually quite a tangled mess. He didn't want to brush it to the point where light could reflect off it but he still wanted to look nice. He normally wasn't one to be vain about appearance but this was a big event for him. He wanted his fur to look nicer than usual but at the same time still wanted to maintain his scruffy, roughish charm that was classically him. It was difficult to find balance between the two but after looking into the mirror he was confident in that he had pulled it off. He still felt like he could pass out at any moment but knew he couldn't get back into bed, if he did his fur would be ruined. He would just have to settle for drinking large amounts of blackened coffee to keep him up, a decision he knew he'd hate himself for later when he came crashing down. He was tired, jittery, and anxious all at the same time; he just prayed Judy wouldn't notice anything off about him.

It had in fact occurred to Judy that she shouldn't be driving in her condition. Legally, she was allowed to drive of course. She had her license and wasn't intoxicated, not that she could be as she never drank alcohol, but she still felt weary mentally and noticed she was reacting slower to objects in the road than she usually did. Everything that had happened to her this morning had been a massive drain on her willpower and energy. She hoped her partner would be able to lift her spirits like he usually could; she needed some support at the moment. She parked outside Nick's apartment complex and honked the wheezy horn of her pickup truck to call him out. As he approached with his bags she noticed how lethargically he was moving. He was practically dragging himself over as if he had invisible iron weights and chains wrapped around his limbs. As soon as he sat down next to her she immediately noticed something off about him. The truck was filled with a pleasant but unnamable aroma and he was the source. His fur seemed to be neater than usual, too.

"You clean up nice," She commented deciding to break the silence.

"I hope it's everything you imagined," He countered wryly while trying to keep in a yawn.

She wasn't sure which was more embarrassing, the fact that she _had_ imagined what he'd look like during a formal event or the fact she had actually imagined him in a full suite instead of his usual attire.

"Almost… there's just one problem," She pointed out to him.

"And that would be?"

"Your eyes, Nick. I thought you put your bags in the back," She joked but with a trace of concern laced into her voice.

"Er, yeah about that…" He yawned, "I didn't get much sleep last night and it looks like I'm not the only one."

She gave a relenting sigh; she thought for sure she hid the bags under her eyes when she put on her makeup earlier. Either she had done a poor job of hiding her exhaustion or her partner was really good at reading her. Whatever the case, she'd been caught and would have to explain herself.

"Yeah, I slept well but this morning seemed to have it out for me, it was just one crummy thing after another with a freezing shower to top it all off."

"I hear you, freezing cold jets of water are enough to dull just about anyone's mood," The fox sympathized.

"So, what happened with you?"

"Me? Oh, nothing, just couldn't get to sleep you know? One of those nights I guess."

"Nick… I understand if you don't want to tell me but _please_ don't lie to me," She pleaded.

An uneasy silence engulfed the pair as she drove down a lonely country road. The road caused her stomach to lurch occasionally when they went down a particular steep hill or made an oddly sharp turn. As much as she loved her father's pickup truck it just wasn't built for comfort.

"I, erm… had a bit of a nightmare," Nick suddenly admitted.

Judy wanted to be surprised by this but it did make sense. She never imagined Nick to be someone who would be kept awake by a nightmare but wasn't about to judge him for it. Everybody had nightmares from time to time and they could be really scary. One question popped into her head however: What kind of nightmare could keep Nicholas Wilde up at night?

"Do you want to talk about it? I promise I won't think any less of you. I've had nightmares too and I know they can be pretty scary," She reassured him.

A look of anxiety and fear etched its way onto her partner's face as he slowly reached out and grasped her shoulder as if to test she was really there. He gingerly brought his paw back to his side as the worry slowly melted into a contented expression of relief. He closed his eyes, reclined in his seat and meshed his paws together in his lap. He looked like ahappy fox.

"No but thanks for offering to listen, Judes. All that matters is that we're safe and sound. _This_ is the _real_ world and I wouldn't have it any other way," He let out a relaxed sigh but the vibration of his seat made it sound more like a big rumbling purr.

His neatly combed fur became slightly fuzzier as the warm rays of the sun speckled their way across his lap, face and arms. One thing struck his partner as odd though, he used the word _"we're"_ as in both him and her. Was she in his nightmare too? The way he had looked when he grabbed her shoulder had seemed rather intense; he almost looked terrified. Then came the relief after contact. He had seemed so _happy_ that she was there, so very relieved. As soon as he had touched her shoulder, he relaxed like nothing else in the world mattered.

Soon, a soft snoring was barely heard over the clanking of the engine. He was so relaxed he'd fallen asleep with a dopey smile on his face. Why wouldn't he though? The car was moving on the road, the sun was warming his fur, his partner was right next to him and everything was simple.

As Judy continued to drive a small smile found its way onto her lips despite the rough morning. Both she and her partner were safe, comfortable and generally content. She glanced at his sleeping form in the mirror to see that he too had a smile upon his muzzle. She decided that even if he wasn't awake, it still felt… _right_ to have him around; just being together was enough. Yes, things were simple and as they should be.

The low rumble of the engine and the wheels on the road were now the only sounds Judy could hear… aside from the occasional snore from her partner. It was peaceful at first but it began to become unnerving. As she approached her home her nerves began to spike and since Nick was asleep, he wouldn't be the best conversationalist. The near silence left her alone with her thoughts, something she wished to avoid at the moment. Suddenly an idea came to her, _music_. She loved music, it could take her to a whole new world where she didn't have to worry about anything but the fun little fantasies it brought. As suddenly as the idea came, it was crushed. Music would wake Nick up, which was something she'd rather not do at the moment given how cute he looked. She shook her head attempting to ignore the fact that she had just called her sleeping friend _cute_. She _really_ wanted to listen to music now; she needed a distraction. Sadly, not only would turning on the radio wake up Nick but the truck was also too old to have Bluetooth or an auxiliary cable port for her phone. The radio channels out where she was would probably only spout bluegrass and country music and while she enjoyed the genres, she didn't feel like the twang of a banjo could help her right now. Naturally she brought her headphones with her but she wasn't about to pull over to put them on and wasn't going to do it while driving either. It would be unsafe to distract herself from the road just so she could jam the finicky ear-buds into place. The ones she had were rather generic but since every animal was unique it was natural that companies would make custom headphones to suite each animal. She'd been wanting Bunny-Buds which were ear-buds designed with her species signature long ears in mind. She'd been saving up for them but had given her savings to Nick when she lost the bet. She wasn't mad at him though, she knew it was her own fault for accepting the bet and eating out too much. Speaking of the fox, she noticed that he'd began to stir. Perhaps he was waking up and her little dilemma had just solved itself. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open as he clicked his tongue.

"Good morning Sleeping Beauty, I was beginning to think you'd never wake up," She whispered her teasing remark.

He let out a massive yawn and stretched his body as much as he could in the bunny sized truck before moving to rub his eyes.

"I…" He yawned again, "I kind of wish I hadn't. That was the best sleep I've had in a _long_ time."

"You certainly _looked_ comfortable. Now that you're up though why don't we switch seats so _I_ can catch a few winks?"

"That's a _really_ tempting offer, Carrots but I'm afraid I can't."

"Oh, come on! I've done all the driving so far so why can't _you_ do a little? I'm tired, too!"

"I don't know how to get to your parent's house," He answered simply.

She supposed she couldn't really get mad at him for that but she _certainly_ wasn't happy about it.

"You lucky fox."

"Aren't I always?" He shot back with a big, toothy grin before clamping his muzzle shut and covering it with his paws.

"What was with that?"

"With what, Carrots?" He asked pretending nothing happened.

"Why'd you stop smiling like that?"

"Not everybody can smile forever like you seem to. Normal people need a break from smiling every once in a while."

"Yeah but _normal_ people don't clamp their muzzles shut like a crazed clam. So I ask again, why did you do that?" She pressed.

"Well, _someone's_ feeling persistent today."

"Don't make me asked a third time, Nick! Does this have to do with the nightmare you had this morning?"

"No," He lied too quickly; "I was just thinking is all."

"About what, Nick?" She sighed growing annoyed.

"Maybe…" He paused, "I shouldn't smile so much in front of your family. Just, fox teeth y'know? I wouldn't want to scare them or anything like that," He finished weakly.

"Don't be like that, you have a great smile!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's great to see you with a big ol' smile on your face; it really brightens up the atmosphere!"

"That good, huh? Please, go on," He was soaking up the attention like a sponge at this point.

"Especially when you have a _really_ big smile and you close your eyes when you do it. You know what I'm talking about? It's absolutely _adorable_!" She gushed before covering her mouth.

"A-adorable?!" He balked.

Adorable was _not_ the look he was going for. Did other animals think that? No, it was just her, right? He was Nick Wilde, cool and cunning through and through!

"N-now, let's get something straight, Carrots. I'm not _cute_ I'm cunning, okay? That whole cuteness shtick is more of your department anyways."

"I told you not to call me that!"

"Well why'd you call _me_ that?!"

"I didn't mean to!" She countered.

"That doesn't even make any sense!"

"Ugh, I'm sorry, okay." She finished lamely.

"Its fine," He replied despite feeling quite the opposite.

The truck grew awkwardly silent and stayed that way. They still had an hour left to drive and they both had a headache coming on. Nick sighed, maybe the pug they arrested last Wednesday was right…

* * *

 **Author's Note: I'm still stunned at the amount of positive feedback this story is getting and I'd like to thank you all for the follows, favorites and reviews this story has gotten thus far. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was proofread by my wonderful editor, Oblivioux! I'll try and lengthen the next chapter because I know you've all been patiently waiting for Nick to actually meet Judy's very large family. As always, thank you for reading and please leave a review if you feel so inclined.**


	5. Chapter 5

"So, this is it, this is how it ends. Be honest with me Judes, how many pitchforks and torches are there?"

As they pulled into Judy's home she noticed from several of her relatives look up from the sun baked carrot fields to their truck. Smiles began to adorn their faces, some waved and others hollered to alert the rest of her family of their arrival. Familiar scents wafted through the air, filling her with a sense of nostalgia and causing a ghost of smile to creep onto her face.

"Why don't you open your eyes and find out," She nudged her partner.

"No, I don't think my heart can take it, in fact I think they'd skewer it if I did! I'm going to keep my eyes shut for as long as I can. If I don't look at them maybe I'll survive," He had lost his nerve at this point and couldn't tell if he was being dramatic or actually meaning what he saying.

"I doubt you can keep your eyes shut for the whole weekend, besides I didn't force you to do this, you agreed."

"A horrible decision, really," He replied curtly

"C'mon their not gonna hurt you! I'll be there every step of the way. Do you really need me to protect you?" She asked pulling the vehicle to a stop.

"L-let's just get this over with," Nick yielded with a small whimper.

Both Judy and her partner opened the door to the truck, unbuckling to step out. Before either of them could so much as close the doors behind them a swarm of grays and browns surrounded them from every angle. Judy was more than pleased to see the familiar faces of her loved ones again while Nick was extremely intimidated by the sheer amount of strangers staring at him. Excited chatter filled the farm as several of Judy's family members all clambered to get her attention at once. As much she loved her family, reuniting with them could still be overwhelming. Looking over to check on her partner she discovered he was rooted to the spot he stood. He stood tall and stiff, with an obviously nervous grin plastered on his muzzle and his eyes were shut tightly. His paw rubbed the back of his neck in what she could as bashfulness from the sudden attention. It wasn't much longer until a massive amount of children broke through the relatively thin line of adults and teenagers trying to hold them back. Both the Judy and her partner were quickly enveloped by hugs of clingy young bunny paws before they knew what was happening. Being used to this treatment, Judy gladly returned the many hugs and gave some friendly noogies to some of her younger siblings along the way. Nick however, wasn't taking the contact so well, he'd gone completely rigid.

"He's so fluffy!" Exclaimed Amy, a young, blue eyed and particularly clingy, bunny girl.

"I've never seen a fox like you before," Awed Bryan, a quirky, young, bunny with large round spectacles and unusually large, buck teeth, even for his species.

"Judy's told us so much about you!"

"Is it really, true you stood up to a buffalo for her?"

"How'd you meet Aunt Judy, mister fox?"

In all honesty, Nick had never felt more trapped in his life… he _hated_ feeling trapped. Being backed into a corner, metaphorically or physically had never ended well for him. Fear gripped his muscles like a giant iron fist and crept through his veins like a slow but vicious ice. One shallow breath at a time, he attempted to calm his nerves. This was Judy's family, they wouldn't hurt him; they _wanted_ him there. It was odd to have bunnies actually _want_ him around as they, along with several other prey species, never really let him get close before. He still wasn't completely used to giving or receiving hugs yet though, Judy usually being an exception.

"Hey, what did I tell you kits? Give them some space now, they've been here for all but a minute and you're already suffocating the poor dears!" A feminine voice with both authority and concern came from the crowd.

"Listen to your mother, kits. You wouldn't want to make them feel uncomfortable, would we?" A slightly less confident male voice supported.

Several of the younger bunnies let out disappointed whines and begrudgingly let go of their new houseguests. Amy gave Nick one last surprisingly strong hug before she too darted off to catch up with her siblings. The crowd began to part for two rabbits, both being slightly pudgier than most of the others but slightly taller than Judy.

"Mom, Dad, it's so great to see you guys again!" Judy rushed over to wrap her parents in a group hug, with an arm around each.

Nick, with absolutely no clue about what he was supposed to be doing decided to play it safe and wait to be introduced by Judy, even if it was _really_ awkward just to stand in the same spot silently in full few of his partner's entire family. For the first time in his life, he wished he was shorter. He didn't like how his height made him stick out so much and his bright sunset fur didn't help when everyone else had comparatively mundane colored fur. He felt like he was in a place he didn't belong, like broccoli in a fruit basket.

"Oh, honey it's so great to see you again, we've missed you so much!" Cooed Miss Hopps.

"It's great to have ya' back, the return of Jude the Dude!" Crowed Mister Hopps while ruffling her ears.

The fox raised a brow at the nickname but remained politely silent; he'd be sure to make fun of her later for it though. He saw some of the rabbits around Judy's age snicker at the name and had seen Judy ever so slightly flinch at it. The three rabbits ended their seemingly everlasting hug and turn to him causing him to break out into a hopefully unnoticeable cold sweat. Judy walked over to him and gave him a reassuring pat on his shoulder however she had to reach above her head accomplish this.

"Mom, Dad, this is my friend, Nick. Nick, these are my parents," She nodded to each of them respectively.

Every set of eyes looked directly at him; everyone wanted to see how he, _the fox_ , would act towards them. He felt the an immense weight on his shoulders as if someone was piling anvils atop him and his lungs felt like they were being wrapped around by a constricting serpent. His mouth went as dry as Sahara Square on a summer day while his fur was becoming drenched in a worsening cold sweat that he prayed nobody was noticing. He wasn't sure how long he was standing there but it began to feel like hours, it was if a time slowing spotlight was cast upon him. He swallowed in hopes of getting rid of the lump in his throat that would surely cause his voice to hitch if he were to speak with it. Everyone was still staring at him expectantly. His ears splayed backwards, pressed against his head and his tail drooped down to the point where it just wilted on the ground between his feet. He never did like being the center of attention...

"It's okay mister fox," spoke the voice of a tiny bunny girl, "Granny Bonnie and grandpa Stu are really nice! You don't have to be scared of them," She took a few steps from the crowd towards Nick and grabbed hold of his wrist.

"You shake their paws like this," She explained while holding out his arm to Judy's parents.

"There's no need to be shy dear, we're more than happy to finally meet you. My name's Bonnie, thanks for looking out for our little girl," She stifled a giggle and took the paw of the seemingly timid fox only to notice how soft the contact was; it nothing at all like Gideon's pawshake.

Nick was _very_ careful not to let any of his claws touch Bonnie's paw. His paw pads and fur were the only things to make contact with her. The last thing he wanted to was scare them off by brushing them with a pointy claw or goodness forbid accidently _scratching_ one of them. Admittedly his fears were rather irrational and while sometimes clumsy predators would accidently scratch someone during contact it was rather rare and mostly seen as an inconvenience rather than a threat; most of those scratches barely punctured the skin anyways. Still, it was better safe than sorry as they say.

"I-it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Bonnie, I'm Nick. You two have a lot to be proud of, your daughter is the best cop I've ever seen and she's a great friend too."

"Aww, you mean it?" Judy teased with a light elbow to his side.

"Don't let it get to your head, Ca-," he cleared his throat, "Judy, sorry something caught in my throat for a moment," He lied.

Luckily for him Judy's family seemed to think nothing of his little slip up and let it pass. He would have to be more careful in the future, he did _not_ want to say something that could be taken as offensive to bunnies considering the current company.

"You're doing good," assured the little kit still holding his wrist, "Now shake paws with grandpa Stu. You don't have to be scared I'm right here to help you."

Nick gave a flustered smile and some of his fur began to bristle with embarrassment but he maintained eye contact with Stu.

"Well, like little Lilly here said, my name's Stu. It's nice to meet ya' Judes' told us a lot about you," He too noticed the Nick's rather timid and surprisingly fluffy grip during the pawshake.

"All good things I hope," He laughed nervously looking briefly to his partner and then back to Stu.

"We'll talk about it when we get inside," He teased, "Speaking of which I hope you're hungry because we're about to have lunch."

Nick tried not to think about the irony of a rabbit inviting a hungry fox into their home, how times had changed. Not a single one of them seemed to have an objection to having him over for lunch; this was going better than he expected. Had they seen foxes before?

"The house is this way, just over this hill," Bonnie directed as the mob of bunnies started to disperse for lunch.

He tried to take a step to catch up with the group but noticed a tiny paw still trying to hold him in place. It seemed like Lilly wasn't going to let him go. He hunkered down to attempt to meet her at eye level and gave her a small but warm smile.

"Thank you for helping me, Lilly that was really nice of you."

She hugged him and buried her face into the fur on his neck. Apparently he was right, bunnies were clingy and emotional and it wasn't just Judy. Still with such a large family this amount of contact would probably seem normal. Being an only child and raised solely by his mother however, he did not see it that way.

"Amy was right, you _are_ fluffy mister fox! You're really tall, too. Can I ride on your shoulders so I can be tall? Please, I helped you remember! I wanna ride on your shoulders like Aunt Judy did!"

"H-how'd you know about that?"

"Sarah showed me a picture on her phone; it was on some internet thing. I don't really know much about that stuff though. All I wanna do is be tall."

Usually, Nick would have declined this request but it was hard to do so in the presence of everyone around him. The fact that someone had apparently posted that picture of him and Judy online also concerned him but he was morbidly curious to see if it had any likes and comments on whatever sort of website it was on.

"Alright Lilly, hop on then," he conceded.

The tiny kit gave out a squeal of delight and happily clambered on Nick's back. He felt oddly at peace with this as he hastened his pace to catch up with Judy. So far he wasn't sure about the impression he was making. He wasn't typically shy but he'd certainly acted like it earlier and while he hadn't had the chance to speak much he felt that he may have sounded too formal. Again, his nerves seemed to be getting the better of him, maybe even getting in the way of him acting like himself. He could admit to himself that he wasn't exactly the classiest of foxes, he preferred to act laid back and loose. It was hard to act in a casual and normal manner when he was trying to make good impressions on around three hundred silently judging individuals, however. He didn't feel like he really had the chance to be _himself_ around these bunnies yet, lunch might be a good way to break the ice provided they were serving something he could eat. Besides, the kits in Judy's family seemed to have no shortage of questions about him and he was sure some of the older rabbits had some to ask as well. He'd have to sit at the lunch table though, with a large majority of Judy's family. He realized that he couldn't just leave when things got awkward as he and Judy were the guests of honor. A morbid feeling rose in his gut as he began to see today's lunch as a trap with politeness being the cage. He hoped Judy would sit next to him so that she could help him break the ice or out of any awkward situations or questions. Was that selfish of him, though? It was her family, not his and if she wanted to mingle with those she loved and had missed than who was he to keep her from that? Another uncomfortable thought bubbled its way into his consciousness; he might be seeing precious little of Judy all weekend because of that. He'd be left to fend for himself in a swarm of chatty, clingy, and apparently hug addicted bunnies. A slightly amusing thought painted itself in his head as he wondered if Judy would suffer some sort of "hug withdraw" if he didn't let her hug him for a while. She wasn't overly clingy of course, compared to her family she'd adapted quite nicely to a lower amount of contact. He could only imagine how lonely she must have felt living all alone in her tiny little apartment. Maybe that's why they spent so much time together? They'd see each other nearly every weekend and every day at work. Maybe bunnies just needed to spend a lot of time with somebody else to be happy? Well, that would certainly explain some things on her end of their kooky relationship but what about him? Foxes weren't exactly known for large families or being social butterflies yet he never truly got tired of having her around. Why was that the case, though? The answer seemed simple enough; he enjoyed her company. Being around her made him feel _different_ she made him feel happier, special and important. Of course there was a lot more to it than that, it was like her emotions were contagious. When she was happy, which seemed to be most of the time, he was happy with her and when she was angry, scared or sad, well, he felt similar too. He'd never forget how scared and dejected she looked back by the cable car when Chief Bogo was trying to get her to quit. It made him so mad! The peppy and smart little bunny that was determined to make her dreams come true was going to have them crushed by some big bully of a buffalo. She'd saved his life just a few minutes ago and that jerk had the nerve to tell her that she'd never be the heroine she already was and the worst part was that she was starting to believe it. He couldn't just watch as she was being humiliated for something that wasn't her fault, for the way she was born. He didn't want her to go through the same thing that he did when he was a kit. It was then that he realized three things; the first being that it was at that moment that he began truly caring for others again, the start of their friendship. The second being that it was that very reason that he could never fully respect the chief; that buffalo had almost crushed his only friend's dreams in front of him. The last being that there might be something more to the reason he spent so much time with Judy but he couldn't place what it was.

"Hey, I wanna ride too!" Cried a young, boy bunny.

"No fair, I want a turn!" Whined his sister.

"I call the next turn!" A particularly chubby bunny proclaimed to his siblings.

"You didn't help him so you don't _get_ to have a turn," informed Lilly from atop his head.

"Yeah I do!" A rebellious bunny yelled while suddenly trying to climb his leg.

That was the spark that blew up the powder keg, small kits began to try and climb him from every angle while Lilly fervently fought to keep her spot atop his head. He yelped from a sharp yank on his tail and began fumbling as kits darted between and tried to cling to his legs. He knew he was going to fall so he grabbed Lilly and hugged her close to his chest and turned to fall on his back so she wouldn't get hurt. When he fell, excited young kits began to playfully climb on his stomach and jump around near his head. He knew they were just being young and playful but he started to become scared. The wind had been knocked out of his lungs and he was struggling to regain his breath while keeping Lilly safe from the trampling he was receiving from her siblings. His vision was slowly starting to darken as he was taking longer and longer to sputter a single breath.

"Stop, you're hurting him!" Lilly squealed uselessly from his arms.

His vision started to cloud further as his lungs burned fiercely, begging for the air they'd been suddenly robbed of.

"Get off him right now, all of you!" Ordered a familiar voice.

As soon as he had heard the voice he felt a massive relief of pressure on his stomach, he could breathe again. He gasped for air like it was the most precious commodity in the world and as far as he was concerned at the moment, it was. After a moment of acting like a recently beached fish, he looked up to see his savior, Judy standing above him and offering her paw.

"Looks like you've saved my life again Judy… but you know who's counting?"

"Looks like you are. Seriously though, are you okay?" She tentatively took his paw to help him up.

Upon stumbling to an upright position with the aid of his partner he wrapped his paw around her shoulder to support his weight. He stood there for a minute to catch his breath and wait for his heartbeat to return to normal. He could feel his heartbeat throbbing in his head and he still felt quite woozy.

"I'm okay; just a little shaken is all. I knew I'd be outnumbered here but I wasn't expecting…" He didn't finish voicing his thought.

"Outnumbered? Nick, I don't want you to think of it like that. This isn't you being against us; it's about you being _with_ us. I know I've been pretty bad about sticking with you so far and I'm sorry about that. I just want you to enjoy meeting everyone, make a few new friends maybe…"

A loud sniffle interrupted their conversation as they turned to see Lilly starting to cry as she sat on the ground.

"I-I'm sorry I got you hurt, please don't h-hate me!" She wailed sadly.

This was a surprisingly familiar situation for Nick. A small scene that took place under a bridge came to his mind. Bunnies were so emotional. Luckily, he knew just how to handle this situation. He crouched down to meet her at eye level, yet again and gently wiped some tears off her cheek.

"It's okay Lilly, I'm not mad at you it wasn't your fault. Please don't be sad, I don't like seeing sad bunnies, just ask your aunt over there," He lightly nodded his head in Judy's direction but didn't look away from Lilly.

She suddenly rushed forward and buried her face into his fur in a very bunny like hug… something he still was getting used to.

"Aunt Judy was right about you. I love you mister fox."

"…Mister fox loves you too," He wondered if hanging around bunnies was making him too mushy for his own good.

He turned to look to his partner, "Not a word out of you to anyone about this, okay?"

She smirked simply smirked and held out her pen… _that_ pen.

 _"Mister fox loves you too."_

"I think _you've_ said more than enough."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, I started school again recently so its taking a little bit longer for me to make new chapters. I am still determined to finish this story (and it has a _long_ way to before that happens) so please stick with me! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, if you have anything you would like to say please share your thoughts in a review as I _love_ reading them.**


	6. Chapter 6

Judy wasn't sure when things had gone wrong but one thing was for sure… they had most certainly gone wrong. To think that things had started out so well, that Nick was had shaken paws with her parents and was saying such kind words to her niece Lilly mere moments ago. How could one member of her family _ruin_ everything so quickly? How could one member of her _own_ family say things that were so blatantly hatful and harsh? Admittedly, it was rare that anything but apathetic sarcasm, or anything of much sincerity, left her grandfather's mouth; he was a rather weathered old rabbit after all. She exhaled a curt huff as her grip tightened on the thin steering wheel of her blue pickup truck. The thunderclouds boomed above her as a torrential rain created large gushes of mud that flowed like rivers making it difficult to steer in the older vehicle that lacked any sort of power steering mechanism. Large dollops of mud smeared themselves on the windshield hindering her already poor sight of the once dirt road. She leaned forward over the steering wheel and narrowed her eyes as she bit down the wretched feeling of bitterness rising in her gut. Her grandfather tried to explain to her that he had only said those things to Nick because they were _true_ and that he didn't want her to find out the hard way. He said he did it to protect her because he _loved_ her and didn't want her to get hurt by a fox that would ultimately cause her nothing but heartache. He went on about how precious and naïve she was for believing in someone who was simply a lost cause. Judy subconsciously pushed her foot down on the accelerator as negative emotions continued swarm her mind. Her grandfather told her that her youth was a precious thing and that she shouldn't waste years of her life trying to make something out of a universally unfixable problem… a fox. She wished she had stood up for Nick at that very moment and told her grandfather all of the progress they'd made together. She wished that she had told him how ridiculous he was being and that the only thing that needed _fixing_ was his attitude.

Swallowing down the bitter bile that had risen in her throat from her thoughts Judy grimaced. The worst part wasn't even the things that he'd said about her partner or even the things he said _to_ him. No, the worst part was the reason he _did_ it. He honestly believed that foxes were not individuals or even equals but simply an unfixable problem that had society had been burdened with. He believed that by trying to tear apart the bond that she and Nick shared he'd be helping her and showing love for her. He didn't view it as destroying a friendship, just cutting off a parasite. That old bunny had looked at Judy and then to Nick and decided that one of them didn't belong. Judy always knew that narrow minded, judgmental and hateful animals existed but to discover that they were in her own family was quite jarring.

She didn't feel quite as safe anymore. She always considered her home to be a safe haven where she could escape the narrow mindedness of society and be protected and surrounded by those she loved. Now however, she knew that not even her home was safe from hateful minds and while in hindsight it should have been quite obvious given the size of her family that at least one of them would be, it was never really anything that Judy thought possible or even thought about. As her image of a safe home had weakened, she realized the only place she could feel safe right now was with Nick. Sadly, Nick had left her home to "go for a walk" after hearing the venomous remarks of Judy's grandfather. It was sad eating lunch without him, she wasn't very hungry anyways. She wanted to sit next to him and introduce him to her loving and accepting family but that obviously hadn't happened. She waited for him to return from his walk and back to her home for lunch but he never did. After an hour she began to worry and after hearing the flash flood warnings on the radio she began to panic.

Bunnyburrow didn't have much in the way of trees aside from the thin rows that dotted property lines or small patch of woods. Most of the land was cleared fields and while this was excellent for farming it wasn't so good at keeping soil from running off and turning to mud like larger roots kept it from doing. Normally Bunnyburrow had a superior water draining system to compensate for the lack of tall vegetation but due to an abnormally large spike in population construction and renovations had to be done to keep up with housing demands. Sadly, this meant that some drainage systems would be temporarily dysfunctional until construction was finished. The construction was scheduled to finish before the next big rainfall but nobody expected a flash flood… nobody ever does. So, for the time being, large waves of uncontrolled water and mud would wreak havoc on the countryside including wherever Nick was. Suddenly, one of her wheels lost traction as she began to hydroplane and enter a tailspin. On instinct, Judy smashed down the brake pedal with all her might as she jerked the steering wheel in the opposite direction she was spinning. She thought she'd been driving carefully, how had this happened and when had she reached this ludicrously high speed?! As suddenly as she had started to hydroplane she came to a grinding halt as the truck brutally jarred from its sidelong impact with the low shoulder of the road. Judy's body violently lurched to the side only for her seatbelt to prevent her head from having a fatal impact with the left window. While the impact wasn't fatal it was still extremely painful and disorienting when her small body smashed against the left door of the car and her head still managed to crack the window on its impact. The seatbelt may have saved her life but it only served to lessen the impact, not prevent it.

It took a small amount of time for Judy to find the courage to move again and while she had obtained a few painful lacerations, some of which were located in rather sensitive spots and a nasty gash on her forehead she was not nearly as injured as she thought she should have been. Slowly, she began to test her extremities for severe injury and while it was an excruciating process, she deduced that none of her bones had broken… for a brief moment she was _very_ lucky. That was, until she realized what was happening around her. Yes, she had survived a car wreck with relatively little injury but she had still crashed her only way home. Her family was probably worried sick about her since she hadn't come back yet and there was still the issue of Nick pulling his disappearing act. Her head was ringing and thumping like both her heart and whistle had been moved to the inside of her skull. Judy was usually good under pressure. She had trained very hard in the police academy to earn her place at the top of the class so naturally she did what anybody rational being would do in this situation… She began to cry as she pulled out her cellphone to call for help. Her shaking and scratched paw however, did not seem to want to hold her cellphone much longer as it promptly fell between the door and her seat. She cursed in frustration which was an extreme rarity for her as she began to try to shove her paw into the small gap to retrieve her cellphone. Sadly, while the gap was just large enough for her cellphone to fit into, her already injured paw was being painfully crushed by the small space. She pulled back her smashed paw and began to nurse it realizing that if she wanted her cellphone back she'd need to open the door to make enough space. As she unbuckled and moved to unlatch the door her head began to throb more severely as her body seemed to screech in agony for her to stop and hold still. She knew it would all be worth it when she got her cellphone back though. She carefully opened the door only to her a small noise that made her heart sink… _Plunk!_

Her cellphone had fallen out of the truck and into the rapids of muddy water below. Judy panicked and lunged forward as agonizing and as stupid as it was she needed to get her cellphone as quickly as possible. She sprawled out of the truck and desperately felt around for her cellphone as she was now on her knees in muddy and freezing cold rapids of water and being assaulted by unrelenting jets of icy rain from above. Her heart raced in her little chest as she desperately searched for her communications device and only way out of the situation. She sloshed through the mud until she felt the familiar rectangular surface of her cellphone. She hastily wiped the mud off the screen and pushed the button only for it to fizzle in her paw and fail to turn on. She desperately mashed the button in hopes that she'd see the set background of her and Nick making dopey faces into the camera together but to no avail. Her phone was as useful as a paperweight now and she had become sopping wet and freezing over nothing. Mud began crusting inside of the cuts across her body as she returned to take shelter in her crashed vehicle. A filthy mixture of tears, rainwater and mud dripped down her face only for the disgusting mixture to find its way inside the cuts on her face to further her pain and discomfort. At least the rainwater had managed to wash away some of the blood oozing from her body. Her headache returned with a vengeance as she began to try and shred the lower portion of her pink, plaid shirt to create makeshift bandages. She began to tie a bit of the cloth around her forehead in an effort to stop the bleeding. When she had finished she began to curl up and sob quietly to herself. She knew she probably looked exactly how she felt… like garbage. A small sadistic voice in Judy's head found ironic humor in her current situation. She always thought she had trained to and was as tough as nails. She wanted to make the world a better place even if it meant confronting foes more than three times her size or running into a fight head on. Now however, she felt quite pathetic as something as trivial as a road mishap and some muddy water had bested her. All her training for intense situations and all her effort to prepare for the big things she was sure she'd be doing were all for naught. All her life's work, determination to prove herself and others would amount to very little in the end as it seemed the world was determined to snub her out of existence like she was nothing of importance.

She'd lost track of the time as her only clock was on her fizzled and broken phone. She tried to stay positive and optimistic like she always did but… there really wasn't a silver lining to the situation she was in. What was the bright side to getting in a car wreck in the middle of a flash flood and stranded in the middle of nowhere? Well, she didn't die so that was good. She also wasn't sure if she was going to live though so that was bad. Her injuries weren't severe as far as she could tell so that was good. However, her injuries were filled with hardened blood and crusted mud and might get infected so that was bad. She saw Nick coming over to her car from the distance… so that was good. Wait, Nick was here?! She did a double take out of the windshield and sure enough her partner was slowly wading through the muddy slop and towards her crashed truck. He seemed to have a limp on his left leg as he slowly advanced towards the truck. It was getting darker out and the rain was still abysmally heavy so Judy tried to do something that would make the truck more visible. As luck would have it one of the truck's headlights still worked so she turned it on its brightest setting and continuously beeped the wheezy horn. As Nick got closer his expression changed from one of pain to shock as he sped up his pace and opened the door as soon as he could. As soon as he possible he started to climb into the truck and get as close to her as he could.

"Are you okay?! What happened?! It reeks of blood in here, are you hurt?!" He launched a tirade of concerned questions at Judy.

"I've been better but I've done everything I can and… and I think I'll be okay. I'm just a little… scared is all," She admitted to him meekly.

"I'll say! What were you even _doing_ driving out here in this weather?! I was just on my way back when these clouds came out of nowhere and started pouring Niagara Falls on my head. What's up with this, some sort of flood?"

"The radio said there was an incoming flash flood and you weren't back yet so I went to look for you and ended up getting caught in it," Judy explained.

"Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that you heard a severe weather warning on the radio and instead of taking shelter you went _outside_ to look for me?"

"I tried calling you like ten times and you never picked up _once_!" She countered.

"I don't get coverage outside of Central Zootopia," He pulled out his phone and pointed to the corner that proudly proclaimed that he had no service in the area.

"What is the point of even having a phone with such a small amount of coverage?!" She lamented realizing his phone was as useless as hers was.

"It's all I thought I'd ever need. I don't know if you've noticed, Carrots but I'm not exactly popular," He showed her his contacts list and only four names were listed, Carrots, Chief, Finnic and Mom.

Judy had _hundreds_ of contacts in her phone before it was destroyed and it was a little disheartening to see that her partner only had four. She wondered if Nick was often lonely considering that a forth of his contacts were probably just for work. That wasn't important though! Well, it _was_ important just not right now. Right now they needed to deal with being stranded in a crashed truck in the middle of a flash flood and maybe even more importantly…

"Nick, you're bleeding!" Judy pointed to a rather vicious and jagged cut near his ankle.

"Yeah, when I was wading through the mud something sharp washed through and cut me but I have no clue what the heck it was."

Judy scowled as she thought of a few possibilities and ripped another portion of her shirt off to bandage her partner's wound. Luckily enough for her she still had enough of her shirt left to keep it from being very revealing… it did make her cold though.

"Probably a glass shard from a moonshine jar if I had to guess. Some animals out here create their own drinks and never really bother to clean up the mess when they're done. It's terrible because kits could hurt themselves or get into things they're not supposed to… oh, and this is bad too," Judy finished as she imagined the stern lecture she'd give to any moonshiners she saw.

"Why don't _you_ try calling for some help?" Nick suggested.

"Oh, because I destroyed my phone," Judy said gloomily as she forcefully tossed the sodden thing on the warped dashboard.

Nick stared silently at the destroyed phone and then to her, "This is all my fault," He uttered.

"How me crashing a truck and destroying my phone _your_ fault?" Judy tilted her head.

"I left you," He paused, "You invited me to meet your family and put so much thought and care into this meeting and I just, _I left_ ," He laughed the final bit sadly.

"Nick, my grandpa hurt you. I don't blame you for wanting to get away from that."

"I wish I would have just told him that he was crazy. He could say anything about _me_ but I should have told him that I'd never hurt _you_. I wish I would've told him that you wouldn't get hurt because of me," He paused and looked around, "But I guess that would make me a lair, wouldn't it? Wow, your grandpa was right _again_."

"Stop being so melodramatic, Nick! _I_ did this because _I_ care about you! It's not your fault!" Judy countered.

Nick stiffened at this and looked like he was struggling to come to word what he was thinking. He looked at her in a way that was contemplative and almost… scared? He took in a deep breath.

"All my life," He breathed, "I've been afraid of caring about other people because I was afraid they'd hurt me. I didn't want to make myself vulnerable to anyone because they could easily use it against me. Now though I think the thing I'm most afraid of is _you_ caring about _me,_ not the other way around. I've accepted I care about you and I'm not afraid that you'd hurt me with that, I'm afraid _you're_ going to get hurt _because_ of that. When you care about someone you do anything to keep them safe even if you have to put yourself at risk. I don't want you to put yourself at risk, Judy, not because of me. I think you getting hurt is scarier than anything that could happen to _me_ especially if you got hurt because of me. So please, I beg of you, next time I do something stupid like this _please_ stay safe Judy. You're more important than anything that could happen to _me_. Does that, erm make sense?"

Judy wiped a tear from her eye and clicked her recording pen off.

"You recorded that?! I finally open up my heart to you and-" He was cut off.

"Nick, you said you trusted that I'd never take advantage of you, right? That you trusted _me_?" Judy interrupted.

He took a deep breath and began to calm, "Yes, I did."

"Well then trust me when I say that my grandpa is _wrong_ and this proves it. If you're willing, I'd like to show this to him and the rest of my family with you by my side the whole time. This disproves all those stupid stereotypes and backward attitudes that people have about you and other foxes. If my family can't see what a wonderful, sweet and selfless fox you are after hearing _this_ … well they're just crazy. So what do you say? I promise that I'll only do it if you want to and I'll delete the whole thing if you won't have it."

"Okay," He breathed after a pause, "We'll show your family what we can be together, what all predators and prey can be together once _this_ stops," He gestured to the torrential rain and crashed vehicle they were still sheltered in.

A small part of Judy wondered what he meant by "what we can be together" but decided to think on it later as she simply hugged her partner both to show affection and to stave off the cold. She was slightly surprised when Nick returned the gesture as he seemed to wrap himself around her in some sort of protective blanket. She smiled as she knew that as long as someone thought so highly of her and cared about her so much that there was no way she could be as pathetic as she thought she was moments before and that she and everything else would be just fine.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Guess who's not dead, I'll give you a hint... me! I'd like to apologize for the long wait but I'd like you all to know that I've written and completed this chapter six different times but didn't like how any of them turned out. I know you've all waited far too long and I'll try to become more consistent with my updating. Also, an odd thing, I had to use the "Copy N' Paste" feature as document upload doesn't seem to want to work with my word documents anymore so if you see any errors in spacing (or anything else as I completely bypassed my editor on this chapter) please send me a PM or review. So, I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter and I greatly look forward to reading any reviews that you guys send my way! I've updated the story to break the walls of text into more readable chunks. Sometimes it is hard to judge how things will format themselves when I upload them as a long paragraph in Word will often appear to be very short on Fanfiction so I try to write them longer than usual. I hope this update makes things a little easier to read.**


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